


The Figure Lying Asleep In The Fantasy

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Series: we are made of star-stuff [4]
Category: Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Lore fic, Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Canon, headcanons, origin fic, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 14:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10191791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: Eos, Etro & Ifrit; a tale of souls, selfishness, foolishness, sacrifice -- and maybe just a little bit of love.|Tumblr||Twitter|





	

**Author's Note:**

> The beginning part of this may look familiar to some of you; that's because the first part is an edited and added to version of the second interlude of my daemon!au
> 
> That said, a lot of the details are different and the entire second part is entirely new, and this is definitely a necessary read for this series.
> 
> Thank you!

1038 C.E. _(Cosmos Era, some 3000 years before current era)_

A woman dressed in the shades of pink and red that bleed into the sky at dawn finds her way into the Unseen Realm, which is - _explicity_ \- the land of the dead (why Bhunivelze and the fal'Cie could find neither Mwynn nor Etro; they were searching the mortal realm, the land of the living) and encounters the chaos of the sea of souls.

Being dead is an awful experience, and a terrible burden. The souls in the sea of chaos are eventually reborn into the world but until then - screaming. Ceaseless, endless screaming. The chaos doesn't discriminate. Murderers and rapists are swirling in the primordial soul soup with children and innocents alike. The darkness they carry can lead to _corruption._

Disconcerted by what she encounters, the girl dressed like the dawn encounters Etro, who explains what the sea of souls is, and tells the girl that if she is dead, she should have joined the sea, rather than keep her individual form upon entering the Unseen Realm

With no idea how to make the girl fade into the sea, Etro decides to leave her be. She's dead, what harm can she do?

The girl's name is Eos, and she takes refuge from the screaming souls in a field a little while away from Etro's Valhalla, happily tending to the flowers. On occasion, the eidolons who follow Etro will visit her. Sometimes the goddess Herself will visit her.

Eos is content.

Then, one day, she lingers to close to the edge of the field - and falls into the sea of chaos.

For a moment, she's terrified she'll fade - but she keeps her form and her individuality, as she always has, and then the only terror she feels is for souls that crowd in on her, crooning and laughing and dark as they whisper, _pretty girl, living girl._

With little left to their existence but the primordial energy of souls and fleeting emotions tied to singular memories, the dead are not too bright. Eos may be dead but she has a physical form, which is more than any of the souls in the sea can claim. In fact, considering the reason Etro became their Lady of Chaos was Her original death, Her first iterations suicide - then by the most basic of terms, with no heartbeat and trapped in the Unseen Realm, Eos is also a goddess.

And it is that which they hiss as the coil against her, invading her mind and her thoughts as she claws desperately to reach the surface - she doesn't need to breath and the sea of souls isn't truly made of water, but she's drowning all the same - _goddess, goddess, goddess, set us free, let us **LIVE** again - _

And then Eos is free, and gasping, and Etro is blinking down at her, face as impassive as ever.

"Those are the souls too corrupt to ever leave the sea of chaos," She says, and though Her words are neutral and Her voice a monotone, Eos feels chided.

"I'll be more careful," she swears, and casts an uneasy glance at the sea. "I _won't_ fall in again."

And she doesn't - relocates, in fact, to the center of the field that has become almost solely hers, a home as sure as the abandoned towers of the citadel that make up Valhalla are Etro's. Sometimes, Eos hesitantly leaves her field to visit the goddess in Her city of the dead, and watches as Etro coaxes souls out of the chaos and back into life; talks with Her as, in the background, Brynhildr laughs with the Shiva sisters and Etro - watching her - smiles in a way that lights up Her entire face, normally as still and pale as porcelain, as the corpse the myths proclaim Her to be.

Over time, Eos feels as if she is growing closer to Etro, and less afraid of the souls that cry out in the sea - and she summons up the courage to ask: "what did You mean, when You said the souls were too corrupt to ever leave the sea?"

Etro, Her eyes hazed over with a sigil glowing purple-white, looks to Eos and tilts Her head. "That they are too corrupt," she says, and Eos resists the urge to throw her hands up in the air and curse the crypticness that is her goddess.

"Well, yes, but - You let murderers and all kinds of horrible, horrible people have a second chance at life," Eos points out. "I've seen You do it. What's so bad about _those_ souls?" (well, beyond the fact that they're terrifying and cold and she can still hear their voices sometimes in her sleep, calling out to her softly: _goddess, goddess, kind lady of mercy, don't turn your back on us like **Her** , set us free, let us **LIVE** once more_ -)

Etro is silent, turning Her attention back to the roils of chaos that dance around Her as She works, and for a moment Eos is stunned as she thinks she is being ignored - but then Etro speaks slowly, quietly.

"I am neither judge nor jury," She says. "I do not reward, and I do not punish - the dead, at least; the living can, at times, be another story." A soft smile. "But here, in this realm and for these souls - I am merely a warden. I watch over them. I guide them when it is time for them to return to mortal world. And I make sure that those who would poison life can never leave this place."

Eos blinks. "Poison?"

"When the first Me arrived in this place, She encountered Mwynn being devoured by the chaos. Never misunderstand, Eos - I do not control the chaos, nor the souls within it, and sometimes they can choose not to hear My voice when I speak to them; only the fact that I, too, am dead keeps them from corrupting Me when those that spew forth venom and hatred infect the rest of the swarm. Souls are volatile, dear Eos - why I was so surprised to see you hold your individuality so easily when you arrived here - and the anger that burns within chaos can infect them all too easily. To let loose such malevolence on the worlds outside would be to kill those worlds. So, in the sea they stay, lest their corruption spread outside their pack."

Eos shuddered. "And I fell _into_ that?"

"Yes. I, too, was amazed that you did not join the swarm. Even as I pulled you from their grasp, I feared it would be a meaningless effort, and I would have to throw you straight back."

A moment of silence, and then: "I'm glad that you didn't have to."

"...As am I."

Over time, Eos explores more of the Unseen Realm, and learns more of the worlds of the living, what Etro calls the 'outside worlds.' There is more than just the world Eos came from and knew - there are many, and one in particular draws her attention as Etro allows the eidolons that live in Valhalla to lead her to a crystal, jagged and with many facets, each showing visions of the different worlds her goddess ferries souls to.

The world is wild and beautiful and vast - but most of all, the images of it in the crystal are dim, and when she asks why, Styria tells her that the darkness means the world is dying.

" _What?_ " Eos gapes.

Apparently, chaos - the primordial force of all life, the center of human sapience and the cornerstone of free will - is corrosive. A sort of eldritch entropy that kills even as it revives, and when Etro breathes life and sentience and will into the people of a world she grants that very same world a slow, agonising death.

The world is called Cosmos, she is informed, after the goddess of harmony they trust in as their patron. Whether or not Cosmos is real, no-one can say. Only Etro truly lives in this world as one of the divine, and whatever gods may exist in the living worlds do not concern Her.

"And...you're just going to let it _die?_ " Eos asks, bewildered.

Styria shrugs. To her, the mortal realm is exactly that - and eventually, all things mortal must die. It's no-one's fault that only the Unseen Realm is eternal. It just _is._

When she brings it up to Etro, she is brushed off with a similar answer, though at least the goddess that claims she was once human shows some measure of sympathy - "sometimes worlds die," She says. "And the people that live in that world die with it. But the souls are eternal, and eventually they will all be reborn into other worlds. So don't be sad, _please,_ Eos."

Eos smiles at her goddess as best she can, reassuring Her that she won't think on it anymore.

To her credit, she actually _does_ try - she just isn't very good at succeeding in this endeavour. She spends a few days away from Valhalla, tending to her field in an attempt to soothe herself and forget about the fact that a world is _dying_ , and no one seems to care but _her_ \- and tries not to think on how the sea of souls is always visible, just there in the corner of her eyes, and the hissing whispers of the souls that dragged her down so long (but also not so long) ago have quieted, as if they feel her attention on them and are waiting for her to make the next move.

So, she makes it. She stands up, brushes dirt from her knees and hands, and stalks with purpose to the edge of her field - kneels down at the edge of the sea, hands flat against the ground just above the 'waterline;' her hair falls into her eyes as she cranes her head over it.

"Before, you called me a goddess," she whispers, aware that Etro is probably keeping an eye on these souls, and not wanting her goddess to know about what she is doing even if she can't put a finger on why just yet. "What did you mean?"

A stunned sort of silence, a stillness of the waves as the buzzing of the souls in the back of her mind completely stops - and then they rise up, not physically but as a roaring crescendo of noise, and she feels fear flash through her as she realises - they're cackling, their joy a dark signal to any other corrupt souls lingering through the writhing waves of chaos, and then they are before her, expectant as they whisper out:

_Goddess, set us free, let us out, let us **LIVE**._

"But what do you _mean_?" Eos crys out, frustration growing. "You call me that, but I can't do anything. I'm not like Etro, or even like the eidolons - please, tell me, what does that word mean to you?"

 _Come,_ they whisper. _Come, goddess, come with us, and we will show you. Come._

Eos swallows. The sea of souls - the chaos - breaking gently at the edge of her shore is lit with an iridiscent green light that she can't truly associate with Etro, even after seeing it all over the Unseen Realm at different times, different places - it almost seems to belong to someone else, and whoever that someone is - they're calling her, using the souls.

"Where?" she whispers, voice hoarse.

 _To the Mother,_ they hiss. _To the First, the Mother, the Mother._

That means...approximately nothing at all to Eos, but the souls are humming eagerly and the glow is brightening and at this moment, she knows there is no turning back. _I'm sorry,_ she thinks to her goddess -

And then she steps into the sea.

The souls around her howl in triumph, and for a minute she's scared that this was their ploy all along, to trap her and drown her and corrupt her - but they're nudging at her now, pushing her along; _come, goddess, come._

She follows, and they lead her for what feels like a short eternity, stopping at the edge of a darkness that is more complete than anything she has seen so far, amongst the chaos - darker than night and blacker than black, for all she knew she had her eyes slammed shut because she would _not_ be able to tell the difference.

 **|who have you brought me?|** a voice that is not a voice booms out, and Eos flinches as it scrapes through her.

 _Goddess, goddess,_ the souls chant, pressing up against her eagerly - and bowing under the strength and weight they're forcing upon her, Eos stumbles forward a few steps, only to freeze and break out in a cold sweat as the darkness darker than darkness intensifies around her like something solid, something _tangible_ , something real and _very_ sentient as it stares her down to her core.

 **|goddess?|** the voice that is not a voice resonates out. **|not the goddess I chose to take up my burden and watch over this realm.|**

 _No, no, no!_ The chorus of the souls agree. _This one is better. Kinder. She will Help Us._

A terrible sound - one that Eos is horrified to realise might just be a laugh, and she wonders just how in over her head she is. This was a _mistake_. She shouldn't have come here, jumped into the sea - and the voice speaks again, their words almost warm. **|i do not think that is why this girl you call goddess has come,|** it says. **|child, what are you?|**

"Eos," she answers, before she can think to stop herself or of a better response. "I'm Eos."

 **|as good an answer as any, I suppose,|** the voice rumbles. **|Eos, dressed like the dawn I have not seen in many ages.|**

Eos flicks a quick glance down at her dress, which she can't even see, the darkness she finds herself in is so absolute - before shyly, hesitantly looking forward and up, at where she thinks the darkness concentrates itself strongest. "I came looking for help," she says. "I don't know if you can help me, at all - but, please - could you just answer a few of my questions?"

 **|it has been a long time since I talked to any others than the remnants of the Corrosion that surround us now,|** the voice says. **|your company is pleasing. at least for now, I shall humour you, Lady of the Dawn.|**

"You live in all of this chaos...do you know if there is a way to stop a world from falling once entropy has set in?"

 **|remove the chaos,|** the voice says, **|and you will remove the entropy. but other difficulties would arise without chaos, Lady Dawn. do not forget that those that surround you are more than corruption and inevitability. they are free will. they are souls. the mortals that live in the outside world need these things, do they not?|**

Eos' mind was racing - she heard the warning, the words of caution, but most of all she heard the answer. "I know how to get around that," she swears. " _Please_ , just tell me how to remove the chaos; I _know_ how to avoid ending the world, with or without chaos."

**|...I am tired,| says the voice. **|come closer, Lady Dawn, and reach out your hand.|****

Doing as she was told, Eos reaches out - and her hands close around warmth that she can't feel, but has to see with her mind's eye - yellow-golden, like some of the flowers that grow in her field, and she pulls her hand back to rest against her chest, vision and head still swimming with flashes of a light she can only liken to the sun she hasn't seen since she washed up on the shores of Valhalla.

 **|the last of my light,|** the voice says, quieter now - fading. **|use it well, young goddess.|**

 _Goddess, goddess!_ The souls cry out, swarming around her like they're trying to burrow into that flesh, claim that light as their own once more. How long had the voice they called the First, the Mother been kept down here, chained by the weight and age and pure volume of the sea, and of the chaos that made it up? How long had they coveted this light that was buzzing through her?

"Back!" She crys out. "Get _back!_ " She flings out her arms, wondering at how the world was suddenly so much brighter, _clearer_ , even though she was still immersed in the sea of chaos - and began to stalk forwards, cutting through the swathes of souls that crowd up around her, pleading for her attention.

She doesn't know how she knows where she is going, or how she manages to get there so fast - when the souls had guided her to the voice, she hadn't been able to tell up from down from left or right, and it had felt like time had slowed to a crawl and stretched into eternity - but within minutes, seconds, a blink, she is crawling onto the grey sand shore of her field, dry as she climbs out of the water that is not water, stumbling as she stands and walks away from the souls still crying out behind her as fast as she can.

She knows what she needs to do. Now, she just needs to do it.

The crystal that lies in Valhalla would be useful, helpful for this, she knows - but Etro will know the moment she steps foot into Her direct domain, so instead Eos heads for the pool of water that bubbles from a stream, crystal clear, that runs like a winding snake throughout the entirety of her field. Not as good as the smooth surface of a magical crystal, she supposes, but with enough imagination, she'll make do.

Eos finally, finally reaches the pool, not too far from the center of the field where she rests when she's tired, and gently lowers herself to kneel at the banks beside it, in an almost twisted reflection of the same movement she'd made earlier, at the shores of the sea of souls before plunging into the chaos - and she gasps, freezes as she catches a glimpse of her _own_ reflection.

Her eyes _burn_ gold, like two suns, no whites or irises, just pure white-gold like the first light of daybreak; shimmers of an identical light trail all through her skin and down her limbs like the delicate traceries of veins, dimming and intensifying as she breathes.

 _Goddess_ , the souls had called her, and she had ignored it. _Special_ , the eidolons had called her, and she had laughed.

 _Unique_ , Etro had called her, something entirely new - and she had blushed, but never thought any of those things for herself. For all that she had been living in the Unseen Realm for what could have been millenia for all she knew, she still thought of herself as human; nothing special or unique or important. Certainly not a _goddess._

Now, she knew - even if she had been nothing more than normal before, nothing more than human - she wasn't that now, not when the light of something she could feel was even older than her goddess was working through her.

And so, with that light - the First, the Mother - guiding her, Eos reached out to gently touch against the surface of the water - and where she touched, ripples spread outwards, that fluroscent green sheen of light she had noted dancing on the sea's surface playing around the edges of her pool - that vibrant colour now hers, the same way the light burning inside was.

The water was cool, contrasting with the warmth bubbling up inside her as she dipped her fingers just under the surface, breaking the still skin of the water and laughing lightly as she pulled back, water trailing from her hands. It felt almost as if the warmth, the light - wanted to _play_.

But - this wasn't the _time_. Eos only had so long before Etro came looking for her, and she wanted to get what she was doing _done_ before then, before She had a chance to stop her or talk her out of it.

It couldn't be all that hard, right?

She'd never asked Etro how Her crystal worked - how She used it to see the outside realms; how She used it to _access_ other realms - but in that moment, she didn't _need_ that knowledge, not in so many words. With her hands still trailing delicately over water and the light thrumming eager and new within her, she already _knew_ what she had to do, even if not on a mentally conscious level; her body moving to take the actions it needed to before she even had to put all that much thought into it, as if drawn like a magnet to that guiding light inside of her.

 _Remove the chaos and you remove the entropy,_ the voice had said to her, and as far as she could see, there were two major problems with that: one, the chaos only listened (and even then, only barely) to Etro, and Etro alone, given she was as dead as the souls that made it up; and two, humans, mortals, worlds - they _needed_ chaos, needed the free will and sentience and awareness that it gave to them. Remove the chaos and you removed that agency.

Thankfully, Eos had an idea of how to get around that. For the first problem - she wasn't trying to coax the chaos into gently reincarnating; no, she was _tearing_ it from the world of Cosmos, and returning it to the Unseen Realm where it belonged. With the light still roaring through her veins and humming under her skin, it was barely an issue; she _knew_ , just as she had known how to swirl water into a vision, that she was capable of doing such a thing. The second problem was - admittedly a bit more tricky, but still not outside the realm of possibility; Eos did, in fact, have an idea of how to counter it.

Her goddess had told her many stories over time, to amuse her, to interest her - among them, tales of the fal'Cie and l'Cie of Her own mortal world, and how when, _infected_ with powers beyond human and mortal ken, the souls of l'Cie were bound to creatures of chaos in order to stabilise them - the very same eidolons that Eos had grown close to while staying in the Unseen Realm, their souls kept compact in crystals. Her idea basically operated on the same principles - just in reverse. Rather than infusing souls with _more_ chaos to balance out a new rush of power, she'd remove the chaos from the body altogether - give it a physical form like the eidolons had, crystal and eternal, the magic of the world still linked to the humans and realm it came from but a seperate entity in and of itself, and thus no longer infecting those around it with whatever remnants of chaos remained - though, if she did things properly, no chaos should remain at all - bringing with that separation, a new freedom from the entropy they didn't even know was coming

It was, as far as she could see, an almost fullproof plan.

Etro would, most likely, be displeased with her - a thought that sent shivers crawling down her spine and hit at her heart with a _pang_ ; for as long as she had known Her, had spent time by Her side in the Unseen Realm, she had never known Etro to be anything other than quietly content, even at Her most melancholy. The very idea of the person she cared about most, in this world or any other, being upset with her - of _Etro_ being angry, disappointed with her - was very close to being terrifying. But...she couldn't just let the world of Cosmos - so wild and beautiful and filled with _colours_ when she had caught a glimpse of it in Etro's crystal, even darkened over by its inevitable and oncoming entropy as it had been - _die_ , not so long as there was something, anything - she could do about it.

And so, taking a deep breath, Eos reached through her pool of water for that sense of _connection,_ for that buzzing that whispered, _Cosmos_ , and _sparked_ a bond between the two of them - the world and her - into blazing, burning, brilliant life. Just beneath the rush of life running tumultous throughout the world, Eos could feel the churning waves of chaos brush under the mantle, settled into the spiritual core of Cosmos - and, sweat breaking out on her brow, she closed her eyes, bowed her head to touch the surface of her pool, and touched against the chaos, gently at first as the souls flittered, unsure of what to make of her - and then, more strongly, as they tasted the essence of Etro, of Etro's presence and favour, within her; once the souls that gathered in the swarm had rushed her in excitement, Eos grabbed a hold of them, held them tight -

\- and _yanked_.

 

 

-x-

Etro's eyes opened.

She didn't recall closing them. With the way time passed in Her Unseen Realm, and caught up in Her task of leading souls to their new worlds, truthfully, She never did. Between one moment and the next, rarely ever did She care.

This time, though, She cared greatly - and felt, deep inside of Her - the 'Her' that was _her_ , neither Etro nor the One They had become Together - but Yeul, who had once lost everything and everyone, and now was experiencing that same sensation - _where was Eos?_

Shaking Her head, Etro pulled back from the separation looming that threatened to send Them into a panic, forcing the remnants of Yeul down to where they couldn't affect Her.

"Styria," She said, calling on the eidolon that Eos had grown closest to during her time here, in the Unseen Realm. "Do you know where Eos is?" A chill had swept through Her as a rush of souls had entered the Unseen Realm, more at once then She could remember ever happening before; what remained in Her of centuries, millenia, spent as Her own seeress allowing Her enough intution to _know_ that nothing good would be coming from this.

"No, Divine Lady." Styria's voice was low and lyrical, like the shattering chime of sunlight cracking polar ice, and Etro's lips tugged into a frown as She turned away from Her crystal; from the souls and Her duty - far away but not _too_ far away, the field Eos had claimed as hers lay across the Sea of Souls form Valhalla no longer a bright swirl of human life and love in Her mind's eye. No, it was almost numb to Her, dulled to Her senses and frighteningly empty of the particular storm of chaos She had come to know as Eos'.

She was _not_ going to panic. _She was not going to panic_.

"We need to go to her," She said, and with a blink, a thought - She was there. Well, almost.

Etro frowned down at Her feet, confused by the Sea of Souls that swirled around Her waist, just before the shore at the edge of Eos' field. She'd wanted to appear in the center of the field, where Eos 'lived' and where She would likely find her. Behind Her and just to Her left, Styria hovered over Her shoulder - seemingly just as shocked as She was by the fact that Etro's teleport hadn't worked.

Frowning now, Etro stepped forward to _walk_ into Eos' field - only to be thrown back, rebounded, by a verdant green light that flashed in the shape of a dome that surrounded the island field - no, not a dome but a _sphere,_ Etro saw as She ducked beneath the Sea of Souls, the underside of the field revealing no way for Her access it, either.

"Styria!" She called out as She surfaced. "Fly over and lend Me your eyes; allow Me to see what you see!"

The eidolon of ice nodded once to show she had understood, and then she was gone - flying _over_ the area where the sphere had shone, Etro saw - so it wasn't just Her, somehow eidolons were forbidden access, too -

And then She was seeing through Styria's eyes - and She saw Eos, lying still in the pool of crystal clear water in the center of the field, half submerged, her hair drifting around her like gossamer threads - and She felt a thrill of fear, recognising the light that burned just beneath her skin even through the warped and secondhand view of Styria's eyes, and _knowing_ just what it meant.

" _No,_ " She said. "Oh, no - Eos, what have you done?"

-x-

Eos watched all that went on around her hazily, through the blurred concentration of one tuned into two worlds.

One world - a living world, _Hers_ \- adjusted to its new existence quickly. Humans were adaptable, after all, and years passed in the blink of an eye. Within only a few generations, mirror images of the eidolons She dreamed of had been created in Her field, watching over Her as She slept and could not wake up, and visiting Her world and the humans She cherished.

The other world, however...

Tears pricked at the corners of Her eyes, even through the deepness of Her sleep, and She could feel Her throat working to swallow as She thought on Etro, Her goddess - trapped outside of Her Field and unable to contact Her, worrying, always.

 _I am fine,_ she wanted to say. _I miss you._

-x-

A warm touch, and Eos knew, even with Her eyes closed in Sleep, that Ifrit was beside Her once again.

Unlike those that resided outside of Her Field, Her Astrals (as She had taken to calling them, in order to honour Her worlds original name of 'Cosmos') could commune with her and touch Her, frequently - Her Ifrit had quickly learned of how She had loved his heat the most, submerged in water always as She was. Because of that, he always took the little free timetime he had to spend at Her side.

 _Thank you, Ifrit,_ She thought on a whisper, and his stroking motions on Her brow stilled.

"Always, my Lady," he said quietly.

-x-

When the end came, it came swiftly.

When Eos had closed off the world of Cosmos from the chaos, from the cycle of souls - She thought She'd made it safe. She'd never really considered the implications of severing a world from the cycle of souls completely.

"The humans have taken to calling the amalgamations of the lingering souls 'daemons,'" Shiva said, agitated. "They pray for our help, Lady - what are we to do?"

If Eos could have bit at Her lip, She would have. _I don't know,_ She thought to Herself, not letting that particular sentence slip through to Her Astral. _If I offer a blessing?_ She asked carefully, _could its bearer bless those that become infected by the malevolence of the souls?_ Even all these centuries later, after all, She remembered all too well what it was like to have the most corrupted of spirits claw their way inside your very being.

"It could work," Shiva said. "There is this one royal line I have been watching over..."

-x-

Her blessing slowed the daemons, but did not stop them.

"With the world closed off from the Unseen Realm, the souls cannot leave," Shiva stated critically, all the other Astrals by her side as they stood around Eos submerged in Her pool. "They stagnate in the land - we can cure the symptoms as they appear, but for as long as souls remain trapped on that world, unable to move on and with no option but to become corrupted - daemons will linger."

 _Then, there is only one thing to do,_ Eos said. _If my own foolishness made it so that these people who revere Me suffer because Etro can no longer reach them, then I shall give them the truth of the goddess they worship - My sprit, imparted into the crystals I created, will protect them for as long as it can._ She summoned up the sensation of a wamr smile. _Watch over them for me, won't you?_

And then - before they could protest, like She knew they would, Her beautiful loving children - She was gone.

-x-

_No, Ifrit thought, numb, as days turned into months turned into years, centuries - a millennia; and still 'no,' deeply and emphatically no, each day Eos was not within Her Field, each day he felt Her presence within Her crystal hearts Her precious humans did not even care for as they should, and She did not respond to his cries._

_No, he thought, as he broke each crystal, snuffed out every shard he could get his hands on - they'd long learned, that if the container that held the spirit of an astral was destroyed, that astral would be reborn - and whatever else She was, Eos was in essence the same type of creature he was. If he destroyed all Her crystals, all of Her vessels on this earth - She would have to find a new one._

_No, he thought, as his brothers and sisters fought against him, blindly not even trying to bring Eos back to them, where She belonged._

_No, he thought, as he waded into the corruption Eos had always warned them about, that sea of souls She'd been so terrified of, always._

_No, he thought, as he called the souls to him, a plaguing scourge that would scrub the world clean of the humans that kept Eos trapped in crystal for their sake and prepared to break them out of the Unseen Realm and into the living one in the form of a meteor -_

_No, he thought. No, this will not do at all._


End file.
